Above and Beyond
by Shadow Dragonbane
Summary: For some, death comes easy. For others...not so much. Noble Six finds himself saved by a fellow SPARTAN, and whisked off Reach to rebuild Noble Team for what seems to be an overly simple mission. But then, when is anything really what it seems?
1. Above and Beyond: Prologue

Noble Six panted as he stopped to remove his battered Mk V helmet, its HUD having failed due to extensive damage. He threw the piece of armor to the ground and darted for his dropped assault rifle, then gunned down an approaching Elite, stopping only once the alien ceased to move. He immediately whipped around to knock away another Elite, this one carrying an energy sword, and finished it off with his side arm. Plasma struck him from multiple sources as he fired off both his rifle and pistol, taking down several more opponents before being thrown to the ground roughly. It took two Elites to keep him still long enough for the killing blow.

He closed his eyes, resigned to his fate. In a short time, he had racked up more Covenant kills than most would ever see. He had accomplished objective after objective, never failing, never tiring. How ironic, then, that the end should come the first time he acted of his own accord.

But the end didn't come. The energy sword he had seen rise up never fell, never punctured his armor and flesh. He opened his eyes to find the Zealot in question on the ground, dead, with a bullet through its head…right between the eyes. To his left lay the other Elite that had held him down, bleeding from the back of its skull.

Six rose slowly, confused. He gripped a fallen plasma rifle, doing his best to move despite the armor welded to his skin in numerous places, and scanned the horizon as best he could without his helmet's optics to aid him. No zoom function. Covenant soldiers were dead all around him, but their assailant remained a mystery to him.

A shadow darted from cover, and Six just barely caught sight of it from the corner of his eye. He turned, plasma rifle moving ready, and faced the figure. Most would have looked surprised to see what he saw, but most people weren't SPARTANs.

Right there, in front of him, was a figure in full MJOLNIR Powered Assault Armor Mk V, Gungnir Variant.

"Noble Six, I presume?" grunted the SPARTAN, who immediately walked straight past Six and began to scan for further hostiles. Out of habit, Six's eyes darted down and to the side, as if he was wearing a helmet…but there were no confirmation lights to activate with a blink. He took up a position facing away from the other SPARTAN, ever alert.

"Affirmative," he stated simply. "What are you doing here, though?" Six scanned the horizon, eyeing Phantoms in the distance. None turned toward them.

"Saving your ass, Jacob." Jacob? No one knew that name…except a select few other members of Beta Company, which had only nine survivors to its name- that he knew of, anyway.. Eight, now that Kat was dead. He ran through the other seven names, obviously excluding himself from the list, but couldn't place the voice. He shook his head. The pleasantries could wait.

"You have a way off this planet, SPARTAN?" Six asked, foregoing the introductions in favor of action. The other commando chuckled.

"You always did have your mind on the mission.. Why the hell else would I risk putting my ass out in the open? Damn straight I have a way off." The SPARTAN turned, and proceeded to slam a giant hand down on Six's shoulder. Six winced; his armor was slag there, and his skin was burned underneath. The SPARTAN jabbed a thumb up over his shoulder, his head cocking to the side. "Our ride is that a-way. My team is ready to go, soon as we get aboard. C'mon."

Six nodded, and followed the other SPARTAN in the designated direction. His helmet lay forgotten behind him.


	2. Abover and Beyond: Chapter One

AN: Sorry if this one seems a bit short for a full chapter. I was hoping to write more, but I also wanted to get chapter one out before going to Virginia for a week…so yeah. Not like you wanted to see a squad of SPARTANs fumble around the firing range anyway, right?

Reviews appreciated!

**1340 Hours, September 2, 2552 (Military Calendar) / **

**Slipspace, Experimental UNSC Prowler **_**Vertigo**_

Jacob-B312's eyes shot open, immediately throwing off the remaining effects of the morphine he had been giving. He found himself in a small medical bay, draped in a thin sheet and a hospital gown; his armor was nowhere in sight. As his mind drifted back to him, bits and pieces of the past day began to return- the fight to the Autumn, Carter and Emile's deaths, the departure of the _Autumn_…his near death. Finally, his dreary mind came to rest on the SPARTAN who had saved him, and brought him to a waiting Pelican a couple kilometers from where they had started. A stealthed Pelican, at that- Jacob had never heard of such a thing before. He had barely made it onboard the _Vertigo_ before the mystery SPARTAN had paused to speak to someone else over a private channel, then turned and jabbed Jacob with a needle that seemed to have come from nowhere. On a good day, Jacob would have deflected the other man's arm…however, his body had been covered in burns, bruises, possibly broken bones, and then welded to a suit of armor.

Jacob lifted the sheets, and saw the effects of an apparent bout of surgery. Skin grafts covered numerous places on his body, covering him with splotches of mis-colored skin. Flash cloned skin, in all likelihood. He dropped the sheets back into place and let his head fall to the pillow. He had survived the fall of Reach…he was Noble Six, but also its sole member.

Or was he? Jun was alive last he checked. With Halsey. Perhaps Jun had made it off Reach as well. Still, the other members of the team…Carter, Kat, Emile, Jorge…they were certainly dead. Jacob had watched them die, each and every one of them. He saw Carter's Pelican slam into a Scarab to buy time. He had cradled Kat's body after a needle pierced her helmet, only to watch as her killer escaped on a Phantom. He stood and watched Emile fight two Zealots to the death, taking them both to the grave with them. And he had floated through space, helpless, as Jorge disappeared into slipspace with along with the Covenant _Long Night of Solace._

Survivor's guilt, they called it. Jacob knew that was his problem, and so he pushed the matter aside. A SPARTAN had no room for such things- they got in the way, plain and simple.

"Feeling better, Six?" Jacob's eyes shot open and darted toward the sound. Behind a curtain he could see a shadow, but he already knew who it was. The voice was just too distinct. He nodded, completely aware that the gesture was futile with the curtain there. A slight smile crept onto his face.

"Jun," he said with a note of relief.

"The one and only," he said as he pulled aside the curtain. He stood in full armor, the only thing missing being his helmet, which he carried under his arm. "In case you're wondering how I got off Reach, Halsey and I were separated shortly after reaching CASTLE. I linked up with another group of survivors- a few marines and your SPARTAN friend- and we managed to grab a Pelican to get out of there just before the base blew. Turns out they were looking for other SPARTANs."

Jacob nodded. He actually hadn't been overly curious as to how Jun escaped, but Jun liked to talk. "And Halsey?"

Jun shrugged. "I don't know. She told me not to worry before I lost her on the comms; that she could take care of herself. I figure, if there's anyone who could make it off Reach, it'd be the woman who thought of SPARTANs in the first place," he said with a grin. Suddenly, he reached behind himself and grabbed a small duffel bag, which he hefted onto Jacob's bed. "Some clothes. If you're up to it, our Gungnir buddy would like a word. Said he wanted to wait until you were ready to brief us all."

Jacob nodded once more, shifting the sheets and getting to his feet. As he picked up the bag, Jun said something about 'giving him some privacy' and left the room with a wave. Jacob threw on his clothes quickly- a set of standard issue, UNSC off duty apparel- and headed out the door.

"Right this way, sir," said an attendant outside the room. Jacob nodded and set off after the woman, who took him through a series of corridors before gesturing for him to enter a room. Jacob walked in to find what appeared to be a meeting room- pure white walls, a large table with a holo screen at each seat, and a large view screen behind the farthest seat. He found several people already inside: Jun, the SPARTAN in Gungnir, a SPARTAN-II in olive Mk V MJOLNIR, an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper, and a single ONI spook standing at the head of the table. All three SPARTANs sat with their helmets off, but Jacob still failed to place the mystery SPARTAN from earlier.

"Ah, good, you're here. Now we may begin," the spook said. He was a tall, pale man- probably from excessive time spent on starships- adorned in a black trench coat and matching black pants, which stood in stark contrast to his pale white skin. He had the look of a man in his thirties, though such appearances were deceiving with how much time the average UNSC member spent in cryosleep. Ear-length brown hair framed a hard, angular face.

"First of all, welcome aboard the _Vertigo._ I am Captain Ronald d'Lacey, with Section III of the Office of Naval Intelligence. I'll start by showing you all what happened on Reach, who you all are, and why you are all here." He pulled out a small pad and pushed a button, causing a report on the fall of Reach to appear on each of their screens. Jacob noted that all of Noble Team had been declared MIA- the standard for all SPARTAN casualties, in order to protect morale. He was 'officially' dead, as were the other SPARTANs present. He read further, finding the names of the other commandos present. The SPARTAN-II was a Petty Officer Second Class James-016, presumed dead during a Cole Protocol operation over Reach. The other SPARTAN was Lieutenant Commander Chris-B274…Jacob's squad leader during training on Onyx. He looked at Chris out of the corner of his eye, suddenly shocked at the fact that he hadn't put a name to the face. Chris had been assigned to another SPARTAN-III SpecOps team like Noble, and was probably the first member of Beta Company to be pulled from active duty.

Jacob read further, looking into the ODST. She was a Second Lieutenant Lindsey Brooks, and a veteran of more battles with the Covenant than Jacob himself. This explained why she had been placed on a team with four SPARTAN super soldiers- she may as well have been one herself. Finally, he settled his eyes on the team summary.

UNSC SpecOps Team Noble

Active Roster:

Noble One- Major Chris-B274; Team Leader; Heavy Weapons/Explosives

Noble Two- Lieutenant Jacob-B312; Flexible (Multi Talented)/Pilot

Noble Three- Warrant Officer Jun-A266; Sniper

Noble Four- Petty Officer Second Class James-016; Close Quarters

Noble Five- Second Lieutenant Lindsey Brooks; Intelligence/Assault

_Five members?_ Jacob thought to himself. _We'll be operating on partial strength. _He looked up at Captain d'Lacey.

"Sir, permission to speak," he said. Captain d'Lacey chuckled, amused by the formality.

"Granted, Lieutenant."

"Will we be picking up any other team members during this op? It doesn't seem like a good idea to go in at partial strength, sir." Captain d'Lacey simply gestured towards Jacob's viewscreen.

"Please, read on Lieutenant." Jacob responded with a succinct 'sir' and looked back to the screen. He accessed the next file- which simultaneously deleted the previous, eyes only file- and began to read about the mission. The following report appeared to be an innocuous scouting record.

JULY 5, 2552 (MILITARY CALANDAR)

ONI FIELD REPORT B486038

CLASSIFICATION: RESTRICTED

SUBJECT: EXTRA GALACTIC ANOMALY

REPORTING OFFICER: CAPTAIN H. D. FLOYD SECTION THREE/UNSCMID: 04968453

AT 0800 THIS MORNING, SLIPSPACE PROBES DETECTED A FAST MOVING ANOMALY JUST INSIDE THE GALACTIC RIM. SPEED ROUGHLY ANOLOGOUS WITH STANDARD COVENANT FRIGATE. AT ROUGHLY 1330 HOURS, THE ANOMALY HAD ENTERED COVENANT SPACE IN THE ORION ARM OF THE MILKY WAY, ON A PREDICTED TRAJECTORY TOWARDS A POINT ON THE PERSEUS ARM BEYOND KNOWN COVENANT OR UNSC SPACE. EARLY THEORIES SUPPORT A COVENANT SCOUTING SHIP; NO FURTHER DATA IS AVAILABLE TO CONFIRM/DISPROVE.

ADDENDUM: SIGHTING MADE VIA EXPERIMENTAL COVENANT/UNSC SLIPSPACE PROBE; RESULTS MAY BE INACCURATE. INITIAL TESTING SUGGESTS 68.8% ACCURACY IN READINGS, WELL ABOVE STANDARD PROBE ACCURACY.

/END/

_A Covenant scout vessel? No, four SPARTANs wouldn't be necessary for that. _Jacob accessed the next report.

AUGUST 23, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR)

ONI PRIORITY TRANSMISSION

ENCRYPTION CODE: HAVOC

FROM: [redacted]

TO: [redacted]

CLASSIFICATION: CLASSIFIED; EYES ONLY

SUBJECT: ANOMALY DEPLOYMENT

AS PER YOUR ORDERS, SPARTAN III SENTINAL TEAM HAS BEEN DEPLOYED TO INVESTIGATE THE ANOMALY. UNSC PROWLERS _KISS OF SPRING _AND _WITH VALIANCE VICTORY_ WERE DEPLOYED TO SCOUT AHEAD. CONTACT WITH _KISS OF SPRING_ WAS LOST AT 1530 HOURS FOLLOWING A BRIEF TRANSMISSION TO THE _VALIANCE._ TRANSMISSION SUGGESTED PRESENCE OF EXTRAGALATIC ORIGIN, NON COVENANT RELATIONS. A FORERUNNER EXPERT ABOARD _VALIANCE_ HAS BEEN GIVEN ACCESS TO ATTACHED IMAGES AND REPORTS A SIMILARITY TO FORERUNNER RECORDS REGARDING A RACE CALLED THE PRECURSORS WHICH EXISTED BEFORE THE FORERUNNERS ATTAINED SPACE FLIGHT. CAUTION WITH INVESTIGATION RECOMMENDED; RECALL OF SENTINAL TEAM PRIOR TO CONTACT ADVISED. RECOMMEND DEPLOYMENT OF LARGER TEAM OF SPARTANS ALONG WITH ADDITIONAL DIPLOMATS AND/OR FORERUNNER EXPERTS. EXTENSIVE KNOWLEDGE OF FORERUNNER SYMBOLS A MUST.

/END/

Jacob absorbed the information slowly, waiting for the others to finish. Precursors? Jacob had heard of the Forerunners before, but never of another race predating them. He looked up as Captain d'Lacey began to move on.

"Now that you've all read the reports, I'll move onto your briefing," he said. He took a seat, then froze for a moment before continuing. "Contact with Sentinel Team was lost four days before Reach was lost. Due to the fighting on Reach, we were unable to deploy the requested SPARTANs to investigate, and with the bulk of the SPARTAN force dead or missing, we were forced to…scavenge."

It made sense, of course. James was stranded in a total accident; Jun and Chris were rescued from CASTLE Base; Jacob himself had been near death when he was found. At this point, even ONI was scrambling to fulfill its agendas.

"We need to know what happened to Sentinel Team, as well as whatever can be learned about these…Precursors. If they're friendly, they may be of help against the Covenant. Hell, if that ship is a drone, we might be able to get valuable technology from it. We will be taking the _Vertigo_ to the Lambda Occasio system where Sentinel Team was last seen, and then we will link up with the _Valiance_ and seek out this Precursor vessel. Questions?"

The ODST closed a document on her viewscreen, then looked toward Captain d'Lacey.

"Sir, may I ask what I'm doing here? In standard ODST battle dress, I'll be a liability to the team. I don't understand the purpose in assigning an ODST to a full SPARTAN team," she said with a note of confusion. Captain d'Lacey nodded and sent out a new document.

"Indeed, Second Lieutenant, you _would_ be a liability in ODST equipment. You will not be equipped as such. Since you don't have the standard SPARTAN augmentations, you can't be given a suit of MJOLNIR…but a suit of Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor Mark III will work just fine." Jacob looked at the SPI Armor Mk III summary. He hadn't known the SPI series had evolved again, but it was to be expected.

"Like the MJOLNIR suits your teammates will be wearing, SPI Armor Mk III is equipped with energy shielding, temperature regulation, and extremely durable armor plating. SPI Armor also comes equipped with active camouflage, which cannot be active at the same time as the shielding. However, your suit will _not_ augment your strength, reaction time, or speed, and your suit only carries an hour of oxygen versus the hour and a half carried by MJOLNIR suits. Your armor and shielding also stand as weaker than that of the MJOLNIR suits, but with your skill set, the SPI Armor should do just fine." Captain d'Lacey immediately looked to Jacob, preempting his own question. "As for you, Lieutenant, your armor was heavily damaged on Reach. I've arranged to have it repaired, but you won't have access until we rendezvous with the _Valiance_. Until then, you're operating with SPI Mk III as well."

Jacob nodded, a gesture which went unnoticed as Captain d'Lacey answered the remaining questions. James asked about his own SPARTAN II team, only to be told that SPARTANs were hard to kill. To Jacob, that spelled doom, but he kept quiet. Chris inquired into the roster of Sentinel Team, but was similarly hand waved. Clearly ONI intended for them to know only what they had planned for.

"Any further questions?" Captain d'Lacey asked, obviously losing patience. No one spoke up. "Good. You are all dismissed. Report to this briefing room as soon as we exit slipspace- I'll see to it that you are notified before we do so." The Captain shut off his viewscreen, terminating the others by proxy, and left the room without another word. Chris stood, drawing the eyes of everyone else in the room.

"Noble Team, check your gear and report to the range. Let's see what you're capable of."


	3. Abover and Beyond: Chapter Two

Author's Note: Fffff. This took way longer than I wanted it to. I've been busy, unfortunately. In any case, here's Chapter Two.

Incidentally, some of the more learned readers may notice something about the _Vertigo_'s marine compliment- I mentioned it carries eight platoons worth of marines. I am aware that prowlers aren't nearly that big- the _Vertigo_ is in fact a much larger prowler than is standard, hence the 'experimental.' Sort of like the _Point of No Return_ in _Ghosts of Onyx_, but a lot smaller.

0430 Hours, September 10, 2552 (Military Calendar) /  
Orbiting Third Planet In Lambda Ocassio System, Experimental UNSC Prowler Vertigo

Encased in a full suit of Semi-Powered Infiltration Armor, Jacob felt heavy. Certainly, the suit was lighter than MJOLNIR- however, it just barely aided the wearer in bearing its comparatively meager weight, thus making it seem all the more a burden.

As a soldier, Jacob was used to making compromises. Nothing ever went right in the field. There were an infinite amount of unknown variables on every mission, just waiting to make something turn sour. However, something about wearing SPI just didn't sit right with him. If he forgot one detail, mixed up the specs of his suit just once, he could end up seriously wounded- or worse. Over six hundred SPARTAN IIIs- maybe more- had met their end in such equipment, and Jacob was acutely aware of the fact that only a few SPARTANs had met their end in the better MJOLNIR.

He pushed the issue to the back of his head and stepped into a waiting Pelican, designated Romeo 595. The rest of Noble Team followed suit, taking seats close to the vehicle's exit. Only Chris stood.

"Alright, Noble. You heard the Captain, but here it is one more time. We'll be touching down approximately five kilometers from Sentinel's last known location, then hoofing it to the rest of the way to the structure. We have no intel at the moment besides the fact that the architecture appears Forerunner, but keep in mind that a team of SPARTANs went missing here- this can't be a milk run." Chris donned his thick plated helmet crimson and black helmet, freeing up his left hand so as to hold onto the netting at the top of the Pelican's bay. The ship's engine's flared and the rear door slid shut with a slight hiss, and suddenly all sense of gravity disappeared as the dropship left the Vertigo behind.

Jacob checked his armor's seals one last time, then leaned back as much as possible. The suit had never been worn before, and it was perfectly sealed. He proceeded to double check the workings of his MA5B, then looked over his sidearm for good measure. Everything was in order.

Jun gave him a slight nod.

The ship began to shake violently as they entered the planet's atmosphere, and the temperature rose from the external friction. The SPARTANs- and ODST- failed to notice the change inside their armor.

"When we touch down, I want Noble Two and Noble Five on point, full stealth. Scout ahead, and report anything you see. Three and Four, you're with me-but stay alert," their leader stressed as their ship neared the tree line below. The pilot stopped above the tree line and opened the hatch to allow the SPARTANs out- evidently they would not be getting a soft landing.

Jacob and Lindsey were out first, falling hard to the ground with only branches to soften the blow. They fell several meters to the ground and immediately snapped to combat poses, their weapons sweeping the area in case of hostile contacts. Nothing showed itself. Lindsey gave Jacob an 'after you' signal and waved to the west, and the two melted into the shadows as the rest of the team fell to the ground behind them.

Nothing presented itself as the team crept through the forest. Something seemed off about the area, though. Years of training and combat had honed Jacob's skills, and he knew when he was being watched. Someone- or something- was hiding in the forest, as invisible as he and Noble Five.

Jacob gave a watched the trees carefully as he continued, looking for the source of his misgivings. The trees themselves were odd, as well- by the standards of Reach or Earth, anyway. Each tree looked like a collection of separate, intertwined plants, forming together into single thick trucks. Their branches curved upwards as if they were coat racks, their spiky green leaves pointing toward the sky menacingly. No leaves coated the forest floor, but gnarled roots seemed to choke the ground below, almost managing to hide it from view altogether in places.

A sound caused Jacob to jerk to the left, making his image visible for a brief moment. He spied a squirrel-esque creature in the distance, clambering up a spiral tree. Indigenous life; harmless.

The next kilometer or so passed uneventfully, with Jacob's only reports to the rest of Noble being periodic flashing of the green light. The terrain progressively shifted from forest to mountain the farther he traveled, smooth dirt giving way to hard, worn rock. Slowly the trees thinned out, never quite ceasing to form a forest, but becoming far scarcer nonetheless. Even then, Jacob could not see the sky above.

He noted a moving object in the distance and stopped, magnifying the imager via his heads up display. Sprinting toward him, at full speed, was a SPARTAN in Mk V Security MJOLNIR. He opened a channel to Chris.

"Sir, I have eyes on one of the missing SPARTANs. I'm not reading a FOF signature from him, but he's making his way towards me."

"Roger that, Noble Two. Keep me updated."

Jacob started towards the approaching figure, wondering how the other man had seen through his stealth field. As a SPARTAN III he would have trained with such equipment, but how many SPARTANs had eyes that well?

Jacob slowed, noting that the SPARTAN was not doing so himself. Fifty meters. Twenty five. Ten.

Instinct, in addition to years of combat training, kicked in as the other man leaned in for a tackle. Jacob threw his rifle to the side, then sent one hand into the man's armpit and slammed the other into his shoulder, applying leverage enough to flip the man mid tackle as Jacob side stepped. The SPARTAN flew past Jacob, a victim of his own momentum, and slammed into a tree. The tree seemed to groan in pain as the wood cracked and splintered, leaning in towards the point of impact. It held. Jacob killed his steal generator and brought shields up, prepared for a fight.

"Stand down, SPARTAN. I'm a friend," he said cautiously, stepping toward his dropped MA5B. The rogue SPARTAN stood- with a surprising lack of grace for a SPARTAN- and stared at Jacob. He charged.

Jacob cursed inwardly, and reopened a channel even as he unloaded into his assailant. "Sir, I've got a…situation!" he managed before his rifle was knocked from his hands, wrenching at his shoulder. His shields flared and dropped from the blow, but he hadn't been relying on them to begin with.

Jacob threw a hard punch to his opponent's head with the offending arm, barely, knocking the man's head aside from the blow. The other SPARTAN brought a knee up and into Jacob's stomach, taking advantage of his prior, overly committed blow. Jacob took the blow and used the momentum to leap backwards, bringing his M6G magnum up mid jump. A clip of rounds pinged off the other SPARTAN ineffectively, and Jacob discarded the weapon just in time to block a punch. They traded blows briefly, Jacob feeling the world of difference between their power armor deep in his bones. He struggled to block lightning blows coming in all around him, his skill the only thing making the fight close to even.

Still, he was losing.

He winced as a fist slammed into his already stressed shoulder. The sheer force of the blow wrenched off his pauldron, and sent Jacob spinning. As he struggled to recover, the SPARTAN brought a leg up an kicked him square in the chest, throwing him into the air. He wasn't sure if the accompanying crack was from the new dent in his armor or his ribs.

His mind raced. His team would be there soon, but he couldn't rely on them arriving in time. He pulled out his combat knife for one last attempt, the taste of blood swimming its way into his mouth.

Definitely a rib.

He surged forward, using every bit of skill he had to outwit his opponent. He threw feint after feint as he came in close, moving so fast the other SPARTAN had no time to throw a blow of his own. He jumped, clung to the man's torso with both his legs and arms, and then brought his knife up to strike.

One chance was all he had. Every SPARTAN knew the ins and outs of their armor, from the number of bullets a given plate could take to how high of a fall the gel layer could protect them from. They also knew the location of every fault and seal location on a suit of armor.

Holding himself close to the other man's torso, Jacob brought his knife around at just the right angle to pierce the seam between helmet and bodysuit.

There was an electric noise, a blur, and a feeling of falling. Jacob hit the ground hard, the other SPARTAN having vanished as soon as the knife penetrated his suit. A trick? Teleportation, perhaps?

He scanned the ground, and located a tennis ball sized sphere in the dirt mere feet away from him. Lights glowed across its silver surface, and it seemed to buzz with energy- a quieter version of the noise from before.

A mobile hologram projector.

He picked up the object. Such things had shown up in reports before- combat capable hologram projectors, which formed in the image of the user. Elite Zealots had deployed such tools against UNSC forces before, usually more as a distraction than a true attack. However, when programmed well…

He spun, startled, as a hand grasped his good shoulder. Lindsey had found him.

"One said you found a SPARTAN. Where is he?" she asked bluntly. Jacob held up the silver ball in his hand.

"Covenant hologram projector. The rare kind- solid, combat capable. Except this one looked like a SPARTAN, not an Elite," Jacob replied. He tossed her the sphere and retrieved his dropped equipment, noting with annoyance that the fallen pauldron was too bent to reattach. He shook his head and cast it aside.

Lindsey examined the sphere carefully, but appeared to find nothing. She shook her head. "Never seen anything like it, myself. I don't see any sign of a control interface, or even some way to call up one of those Covie holoscreens. Maybe the Major can make some sense of it."

Jacob nodded past Lindsey, towards the trio of approaching SPARTANs behind her. He quickly detailed what he knew of the sphere, then gave a brief account of the fight, assuming his comrades should know what they were up against…just in case they had to fight more holograms. Chris absorbed the information for a moment.

"All UNSC personnel have standing orders to recover any technology possible. Reports suggest that holding such a device will prevent it from reactivating, so grab any projectors you disable," he ordered after a pause. "Now, back to the mission. We don't know how many of those things are running around the area, so I want us all in one place. We're traveling as a group now. I want every direction covered by _someone_ at all times- they're not getting the drop on us."

The members of Noble Team mumbled a succinct 'sir' in response to the order, then fell into formation and continued on. The team advanced in silence for quite some time, the eerie quiet broken only by the occasional calls of wildlife in the distance. What little sound there was only served to increase the tension; everyone seemed to share Jacob's feeling of being watched, though the SPARTAN-II of the group moved so fluidly it was impossible to tell what he thought at all.

Slowly but steadily, a rock wall grew in the distance, the trees finally giving way to stubborn stone. Chris brought the group to a halt and looked either way in search of a way through- or up- the rock wall. Jacob could see no way through himself; the rock seemed to stretch on for endless kilometers.

"Jun, do you see a way through the rocks?" Chris asked over the comm. Jun sighted into his sniper rifle, its scope allowing him far greater vision than any of their helmets could manage. He spent several moments scanning the horizon before lowering his weapon.

"Possibly. It's hard to tell from this angle, but there seems to be a depression in the rock several hundred meters to the south. Could be a trail or tunnel," he said with a shrug. Chris nodded.

"Alright then Noble. Let's go."

Once again they set off, passing slowly and cautiously through the alien terrain. They arrived at the opening to an enormous tunnel, tall enough for a Banshee to fly through comfortably, and plenty wide enough to accommodate a pair of Scorpion tanks side by side. Dim lighting emerged from the walls in various places, doing little to pierce the pervading darkness inside. The metal surfaces of the tunnel shone a dark silver, almost like iron not yet tempered. Someone whistled softly. Once again, Chris referred to Jun.

"Can you see anything inside?"

"Negative," Jun replied after a moment. "Lots of empty space. Just goes on and on."

Lindsey chuckled. "Well someone sure as hell built it. Gotta lead somewhere, right?"

"That's what we're here to find out. Jacob, you and I have point. I want Nobles Four and Five on rear guard, and Jun in the center."

Jacob fell into position, noting that Chris had put the two non SPARTAN-III team members in the rear. In theory it made sense; after all, a SPARTAN-II certainly evened out the disadvantage of having a non SPARTAN present. Still, it seemed more likely that their team leader didn't quite trust the 'outsiders' than it being a matter of tactics. That wasn't the Chris he knew in training, but a lot can happen during a war. As was his custom, he pushed the thoughts into the recesses of his mind. SPARTANs had no need for such concerns; they had only to complete their objectives.

As the team delved into the tunnel, all sound faded save their own footsteps. Light all but disappeared, leaving their only means of vision as flashlights and the night vision effect provided by their helmets. Seconds passed like hours. No one spoke, and Jacob suspected it was simply to avoid breaking the pervading silence. The tunnel appeared to be taking the team downwards, and a quick check of the overhead map revealed no visible depressions on the planet's surface- in the near area, in any case. They weren't moving through the mountain…they were moving into its interior. Something had to be there.

He snapped to a combat stance as his suit picked up a faint echo in the distance. A staccato noise somewhere far off…and moving closer. He looked toward his leader, who simply motioned for everyone to stay alert. They kept moving.

As if out of nowhere, the same SPARTAN from earlier appeared in the beam of Jacob's flashlight. No FOF. He raised his rifle, started to pull the trigger…

And then James was in his line of fire. The older SPARTAN slammed into the attacking hologram like lightning hitting a tree, his fist visibly removing its balance and dissipating its shields. A flurry of untraceable punches sailed toward the false man, too fast for it to respond to. Bit by bit all semblance of balance disappeared from its stance. Suddenly James stepped into his opponent's stance, and in one fluid motion he pushed it and swept its feet out, sending it onto its back with a loud crash.

No sooner did the hologram hit the floor than did James land on it. Half a ton of MJOLNIR and man hit it like a freight train, and before it could react, an fist slammed into its visor, cracking it. James raised his arm- which, Jacob noticed for the first time, was prosthetic from the elbow down- and brought it down once more, shattering the visor and disabling the hologram. He caught himself expertly as his perch disappeared, swept up the fallen projector, and stood.

Jacob glanced at his mission clock. Less than ten seconds had passed since the hologram came into sight.

Despite years of combat, sights beyond anything most could imagine, and even experience fighting alongside other SPARTAN-IIs like James, the rest of the team stood stunned by the display of skill. James tossed the fallen projector to Chris with a chuckle, and Chris grabbed it out of the air with ease.

"These things don't have anything on Hunters," James joked, flexing his prosthetic appendage. Chris simply walked past him, continuing farther into the tunnel.

"Recklessly charging, interrupting our lines of fire, and leaving us open just to thrash our opponent effortlessly. James just gave us a valuable lesson on how _not_ to act in a combat situation," he said with a quiet laugh. No one said a word of it, but everyone understood the implications- he had said James rather than Noble Four. Chris, something of a SPARTAN-III supremacist, had accepted James as a member of the team.

"Try _again_," Captain d'Lacey ordered impatiently. The tawny haired Sensor Officer in front of him shook her head. Lieutenant Rodda's fingers flew across the keyboard in front of her as she attempted to locate the missing Romeo 595 once more. She found nothing but trees, rocks, and air.

"No luck, sir. It's just…gone."

Captain d'Lacey grunted in frustration. After it dropped off Noble Team, the Pelican had ceased communicating with the _Vertigo_ altogether. Its marker on the display screen had vanished, along with, apparently, its entire hull. Sensor sweeps had turned up nothing, and so a crash was ruled out. Neither could it have been destroyed en route to the _Vertigo_, as no debris had been picked up. He turned to his Communications Officer, a Lieutenant Conrad.

"Have you managed to contact Noble Team?"

Lieutenant Conrad didn't respond for a moment as he made one last attempt at opening a channel. He sighed. "Negative, sir. I'm getting nothing."

"Wonderful," Captain d'Lacey muttered under his breath. An entire Pelican and elite SpecOps team had disappeared into thin air. He paced the length of the _Vertigo_'s bridge, more to calm his nerves than to help him think. Finally, he sat down in his seat, positioned in the center of the room.

"Maintain orbit over the planet and continue attempts to make contact. I want a platoon of marines loaded up and ready to launch on my mark." Beside Captain d'Lacey a holotank flickered to life, the contained AI taking the form of a young male in thick, spring pattern robes, with blond hair cascading down to his waist where a belt and sword hung loosely. Pointed ears identified the figure as a mythological Elf- Tanis, the _Vertigo_'s 'smart' AI. He looked at the Captain with a note of confusion.

"That puts a full half of our complement on standby, Captain. Should we not give Noble Team more time before committing so thoroughly?"

"We'll give them a few more hours to find Sentinel Team, and then we're sending in the cavalry. Those SPARTANs are our most valuable assets. We can't afford to lose them." Tanis considered the Captain's words for a moment- an eternity in the mind of an AI. Gifted though he was- as all smart AIs were- Tanis was not a military strategist at his core.

"I see. Worth the lives of nearly forty men?" he said softly, so that only d'Lacey heard.

"Much more than that, Tanis. Much more."

The tint of Jacob's visor darkened considerably as the tunnel suddenly lit up. As the polarization normalized- in accordance with his own pupil dilation- he saw the source. The team had turned a corner, emerging suddenly into the final stretch. They left the tunnel behind, entering what looked to be a massive valley, stretching into the distance. The calls of wildlife sounded in the distance, accompanied by a roaring waterfall somewhere out of sight.

He looked up, and was forced to shield his eyes. A brilliant globe sat in the sky, several thousand feet up, illuminating the valley. So bright and so close that his suit couldn't quite compensate, in fact. Not in the sky, Jacob correct himself. The globe sat in what appeared to be the hollowed out apex of a mountain, with the rest of the 'valley' lying farther down the mountain's body. The entire area consisted of a hollowed out mountain range, with seemingly nothing supporting the rock that closed it all in.

In short, the place was nothing short of a marvel of engineering.

As his helmet finished polarizing, he saw the final detail. A plateau rose up in the center of the cavern, a spiral trail around its body the only way to the top. On the top…sat a UNSC frigate, only marginally damaged.

"Holy shit," Lindsey remarked as she caught sight of the ship.

"My thoughts exactly," James added. "No visible entry points…either something disassembled that ship and rebuilt it in here, piece by piece, or that's another hologram."

"That…or something opened the mountain right up and landed the frigate inside," Jun said softly. He sighted it with his rifle. "Mm. The plateau is about two and a half kilometers from here. I'd say around half as tall, too."

Chris simply winked his acknowledgement light green. He scanned the cavern slowly, as if expecting it to reveal its secrets should he look long enough. Finally, he stopped, and a waypoint popped up on Jacob's HUD- on everyone's HUD.

"That…is where we'll find Sentinel Team. Noble, move out!"

In the distance, a silver structure rose above the tree line. Smoke wafted into the air around it.


	4. Abover and Beyond: Chapter Three

AU: So I just noticed my character switch line break things weren't transferring to properly. Ch 2 has been fixed. Whoops.

0900 Hours, September 10, 2552 (Military Calendar) /  
Third Planet In Lambda Ocassio System, Deep Inside Mountain Range

Jessica-G186 slumped against one of the smooth, ornate walls of her team's impromptu fortress. Her eyes settled on the campfire resting on the brilliant silver surface of its floor, unscathed by the flames resting against it.

Even SPARTANs had their limits- nearly two weeks of fighting off holographic copies of her team happened to be hers.

In all honesty, she probably hadn't been ready for this when she left Onyx. Fresh out of training, she and her team had been pulled from the ranks to don MJOLNIR and function in the capacity of a SPARTAN-II team. Three other teams had been selected for the same treatment, she knew, but hers was the only one not eligible for top honors. As a result, they were sent out immediately.

Unlike most SPARTAN-III teams, Sentinel consisted of three SPARTANs rather than five. She, Andrew-G047, and Mary-G283 had been picked out of three hundred Gamma Company members specifically for their ability to adapt- with less people, they theoretically could survive just as well as with a full team.

Theoretically.

Jessica scanned the forest's edge some fifty meters from her position. Her team had just fought off the second of five waves of holograms, the exact number that attacked each and every day. The times varied, of course, and sometimes a lone assailant would wander into their structure. Still, at least an hour passed between each attack at the least. Currently, her team was off foraging for food while she watched over camp. It was uncanny, really, the amount of resources they had available. Their opponents had practically _herded_ them into their camp, while food and water were everywhere in the surrounding forest. Since then, it had been one fight after another…but Sentinel Team always had enough supplies to keep going.

Secretly, she wondered if their predicament was in fact one of Lieutenant Commander Ambrose's tests. He and Chief Petty Officer Mendez always did have a certain flair for the extreme, and it seemed as if their enemies didn't even want them dead. Sure, the fights got harder every day- in fact, the holograms seemed to be learning- but they had sure been provided for.

On the other hand, she had watched crew members of the UNSC _Fire Within_ die at the hands of the very same entities. While their deaths could have certainly been faked, it didn't seem like LCDR Ambrose's style.

She noted a shadow in the tree line, and her M392 Designated Marksman Rifle moved to her shoulder in an instant's time. She clicked her comm on and off, her team's code for requesting acknowledgment.

Jessica loosened as an IFF signal flicked on and off. It was Andrew, their stealth specialist. Strictly speaking, every member of Sentinel Team was a Jack or Jill of all trades, but they still had their personal fields of expertise. Andrew sauntered into the field between the forest and their fort, a MA5B in one hand, and a makeshift basket of alien fruits in the other. Toxicity tests had painted the fruit as edible, and they had survived off of it and other things thus far. Andrew set down the basket inside the fort's walls and turned to Jessica.

"Any word from Mary yet?" he asked. Jessica nodded.

"She sent word back a few minutes ago. She caught one of those pig-geese we've seen around, so she'll be a while getting back," Jessica responded. The native wildlife was…odd, to say the least. Andrew joined her at the wall.

"At least we're getting meat tonight." He sighed, his gaze shifting to the frigate far above them. "We're going to have to make an attempt sooner or later, Jessica."

Jessica remained silent. Their ship, the _November Sky_, had been captured by a massive force of holograms following its descent into the planet's atmosphere. To her knowledge, no one had survived but her team. Worse still, the crew hadn't been able to activate Cole Protocols in the brief struggle, and so _November Sky_'s database and AI, Athena, were still intact.

In light of this fact, Jessica knew their duty to be recapture of the ship, and either escape or a full purge of its systems. However, even minor probing toward the hill it sat on had been met with overwhelming force, and so her team hadn't been able to do a thing thus far. Sooner or later something would have to be done- preferably while they still had ammo.

She checked her clock. They still had at least a half hour until the next assault.

Jessica moved further into their base, leaving Andrew on watch. She removed her helmet- MJOLNIR Mk V Recon Variant, like the rest of her suit- and sat, savoring the brief moment of respite.

A moment which, rather quickly, was interrupted. A horrendously loud rumbling began from outside- the sound of rock shifting against rock. She had her helmet on in moments, and was outside even faster.

Halfway up the inner wall of the mountain, and enormous hole had opened- big enough for a Longsword fighter to slip through easily. Through the opening, she could see a single Pelican on hot approach.

"Help, maybe?" Andrew offered.

"That, or things just got worse."

Noble Team stopped in its tracks as the mountain opened up, everyone's gaze shifting toward the 'sky-' well, up, anyway. The sound of stone on stone came as a deafening roar to the augmented SPARTANs, and somewhat less of one to the lone armored ODST. As the hole slowed its growth, a single Pelican flew through it at high speed. A channel opened- Jun was contacting the full squad.

"That's Romeo 595…something's up," he said disbelievingly. The Pelican curved its path sharply, angling towards the smoke Chris had pointed out earlier.

"Double time it, Noble! Move!" Chris shouted, taking off in a full run. James was moving before he finished the order, and Jacob fell in behind them as they crashed through the forest, ignoring their own sudden lack of stealth. Well, most of them- James still hardly made a noise. The waypoint on Jacob's HUD dropped rapidly, as if it were counting milliseconds rather than meters. Still…they had a long run on their hands.

Nothing a SPARTAN couldn't handle, of course.

Jessica eyed the approaching dropship warily, her DMR at the ready. She glanced at the ammo count- a full fifteen rounds. The ship settled down in the field between her position and the forest, its rear opening to reveal a bay full of what looked to be marines.

She pinged their neural interfaces for an IFF response. Nothing.

"I recognize a couple of those guys," Andrew said. "They were on the _Sky_. Looks like you were right. Guess those holo-projectors scanned them too."

Jessica grunted an affirmative and raised her weapon to fire, the last bit of evidence she needed being the passive look on her target's face. She squeezed off a round, and the image of the marine vanished before it hit the ground.

Suddenly the forest was alight with combat. The entire complement of 'marines' opened fire, spraying Jessica's position with solid light bullets. Most of the rounds pinged off a wall and vanished, but a few slammed into her shields, dropping them steadily. Slowly, but steadily. She squeezed off two more shots and ducked, allowing her shields to recharge. Beside her Andrew jumped up and opened fire with his own weapon, firing single rounds to conserve ammo. As his shields fell, hers began to rise, and soon he ducked into cover as well.

All traces of shooting ceased.

Jessica saw two possibilities. Either they were being lured into the open for a massive attack, or Mary had arrived to mop up the survivors. She removed a length of optic cable from her helmet and bent it into position, then eased it up and around her cover.

To her surprise, she found not one SPARTAN, but _five_ in the clearing. None of them looked familiar to her, but all the armor designs were distinctly UNSC.

_Hm. Maybe Athena lost out to an enemy hacker, and they got the information from database,_ she thought to herself. _That, or we've _actually_ received help. _She grinned slightly at the prospect of reinforcements. SPARTANs, no less!

She retrieved the cable and edged her way up, looking at the SPARTANs with her own eyes. Sure enough, the team was standing on the other side of the field, facing the front of the Pelican. The 'marines' were nowhere to be seen, but the ship's bay door was closed- likely they had retreated into it, hoping the SPARTANs would mistake each other for enemies and attack. Underestimation at its finest, but whatever intelligence controlling those drones had definitely improved its tactics.

A cursory glance revealed the SPARTANs to have active IFF signatures, and she activated her own to catch their attention and avoid friendly fire, motioning to Andrew to do the same as well.

"This is Sierra G186. UNSC forces, please confirm," she said firmly, still not willing to leave things to chance. The SPARTAN in Gungnir stepped forward.

"Major Chris-B274," he said simply. "Glad to see you're in one piece, Sentinel Actual. Where's the rest of your team?" he asked cautiously, anticipating an unsavory answer. Too many SPARTANs had died in past years, and Jessica understood the trepidation in his voice to be related to that fact. Andrew stepped into the open and flashed the SPARTAN smile- two fingers across the helmet. A couple of the others returned the gesture, though one of them- outfitted in SPI- simply looked back and forth, as if wondering as to the meaning of the gesture. Odd.

"Chief Petty Officer Jessica-G186. This is Petty Officer Second Class Andrew-G047," she said, nodding toward her teammate. "Our third member is gathering supplies at the moment. You can relax. We're all here." Chris eased visibly- difficult to do in a full suit of power armor, but subtleties are obvious to a full SPARTAN. Jessica gestured to the Pelican. "You may want to stay clear of that bird, sir. It's compromised by enemy forces- I'm sure you've encountered them by now."

"One of them nearly got Six," remarked the SPARTAN in the Scout Variant, chuckling lightly as he gestured towards the SPI outfitted man with the damaged armor.

"Yes, we're familiar," Chris said, waving his team into combat positions around the Pelican. "You said compromised? It'll still fly, right?"

"Yes, sir. We'll have to clear out the drones first, but she'll fly." Jessica paused, glancing at the still present hole in the mountain. "You don't intend to…" she said, trailing off midsentence as she looked back to Chris. Helmet or not, she was sure he was smiling.

"Affirmative. We're taking this bird up and out of here." Jessica looked at Andrew, who nodded at her knowingly. She faced the superior officer, steeling herself for a possible reprimand.

"Negative, sir. We have more pressing objectives to attend to," she said firmly, speaking to her superior officer in a way only a SPARTAN could get away with. She gestured towards _November Sky._ "Cole Protocols were never carried out on our ride in."

Chris froze. The implications were obvious, of course, and he surely realized what they were. Foreign AIs- or aliens- with access to not only UNSC navigation banks, but a full shipboard AI? The possibilities were ominous, to say the least. He sighed, and nodded in resignation.

"Alright, SPARTANs. You heard her. We've got a Priority One objective on our hands. Jacob, James, Five? Clear out that bird. It's still our ride out. Jun, I want you scouting the area for hostiles, and finding any viable approaches to that frigate." He turned to face Jessica, who straightened slightly out of instinct. "Jessica, Andrew? Tell me everything you know."

As it had turned out, the members of Sentinel Team knew as much as Noble did. They had briefly recited an account of their time in the system, from the _November_'s approach to the arrival of Noble Team. Jacob hadn't paid much attention to the story; it had little to do with him anyway. No, he was content with helping his squadmates clear out the Pelican.

That job had been simple enough. The drones inside didn't have data stored on SPARTANs yet- Sentinel had explained how that worked, and it was one of the few things Jacob heard- so they fell easily to the three man assault. The Pelican itself was hardly damaged.

Then Chris had outlined their plan, which was now underway. Jacob, as resident pilot, would take half the team to the frigate by air- more to keep the Pelican secure than to add an avenue of attack. Chris would take the rest of the team in on foot, bullrushing the drone defenses on the way. After all, a team of highly experienced SPARTANs beats a team of three green ones any day.

Jacob held the ship steady as he looped it around the central hill, waiting for the signal to begin. Sentinel Team chattered nervously in the back of the Pelican behind him, apparently slightly worried as to what they'd find on their old ship. Beside him sat the team oddball, their ODST- Chris hadn't wanted an unaugmented soldier taking the hard path up the hill, and so she was sent along for the ride.

Jacob circled the frigate lazily, awaiting a signal from Chris to move in. The ground team had a two hour head start on the Pelican, and were bound to arrive any moment.

"They remind me of marines straight out of boot," the ODST murmured beside him. He chuckled lightly.

"We all were like that once."

"Even SPARTANs? Last I recall, the first SPARTAN kill on record went to a fourteen year old. Green. Right," she replied sarcastically, failing completely to hide her contempt for SPARTANs. Most ODSTs were like that- after all, after years of being the best, ODSTs had taken a backseat to the super soldiers. It was as if being told to sit back and let the _real_ soldiers handle the dirty work, and Jacob felt he understood the sentiment on some level. It didn't help that the first ODST-SPARTAN encounter had ended with several ODSTs dead or wounded.

Before Jacob could respond, a green light flashed in his helmet- Chris's status light. "I'm taking us in," he said simply, knowing Lindsey would have seen the light as well. The Pelican banked and dove at his command, reorienting for the _November Sky_ as it did so. Lindsey marked a point on the ship's hull via her HUD.

"There…I see an open hatch. Lifeboats, probably. We should land near there." It was as if the prior conversation had never happened. Say what you will about Lindsey- she knew when to act like a soldier.

Jacob nodded and changed course. In the back, he could hear the others prepping for landing, knowing what the sudden change meant. The Pelican dipped down and hovered briefly, its landing gear extended, before touching the ground and settling to a stop. Jacob shut the dropship down and stood, retrieving his MA5B from the floor beside him and bringing it to the magnetic strip on his back. It clicked into place.

He strode into the troop compartment behind Lindsey and stopped to regard the other SPARTANs.

"I want you three to stay with the Pelican. Wouldn't do us any good to lose our way out." The team leader- Jessica- nodded slightly.

"Go get 'em, sir," she said simply. He smiled under his helmet- though she was probably disappointed at being put on guard duty, she didn't question the order. That was good.

Jacob dropped to the ground outside the ship, bringing his rifle to the ready. The top of the hill was massive- it could probably have fit a Marathon-Class cruiser atop it. The _November Sky_ seemed barely to take up any space at all, with that much space available. The ship sat in the midst of a massive, somewhat thin forest, its bow held up by what appeared to be faint beams of light- he hadn't noticed them farther away.

He gazed at the ship itself, finding the open hatch on its hull. It was a dozen meters up, just above the vehicle bay centered in the ship's stern. A brief climb would be necessary, but UNSC ships tended to have plenty of handholds. He set to work.

A short climb later, he pulled himself into the empty lifeboat bay, noting the doors to be closed to his annoyance. No matter; his augmentations would allow him to pry them open, MJOLNIR or not.

"Shit…" Lindsey exclaimed as she entered the bay. "How are we getting in now?"

Wordlessly, Jacob approached the set of doors and got a grip near the seam where they connected. He dug his hands into the grooves in the doors and prepared to pull…when the doors slid apart on their own. Lindsey did a double take.

"Nice. You guys _are _strong." She moved forward, sweeping the hallway with her rifle. Satisfied, she turned to regard Jacob. He shook his head.

"That wasn't me. The door opened on its own." Lindsey cocked her head. He shrugged in response. "Keep an eye out. We're not alone here, and I don't think it was Noble that did that."

They continued into the ship, encountering corridor after abandoned corridor. A feeling of unease seeped its way into the back of Jacob's mind as they progressed. Nothing was worse to a soldier than finding just that. _Nothing._ It smelled of a trap. He turned another corner, nearly bumping into another figure. Frantically, he leapt back and brought his MA5B to his shoulder.

"Six, it's me!" the figure said quickly, raising a hand to him. Jun. Behind him were Chris and James. Jacob didn't even bother to marvel at Jun's adherence to his old call number. At least it told him it was _definitely _Jun.

"Where's Sentinel?" Chris inquired as the team fanned out.

"I left them with our bird."

"Alright. Let's get this over with then." Chris motioned for James to take point and turned to face the door to the bridge. He waved James in.

The team stormed the bridge rapidly, rifles waving in every direction. In the center of the bridge, atop a holotank, sat the one figure present- a holographic image of a woman dressed in ancient Greek atire, a helmet at her sandal wearing feet, her brown hair tied into a simple ponytail. She wore a devious grin on her face.

"So good of you to finally join me. I can't tell you how boring this was getting," the figure said, her voice seeming to come from everywhere at once. She was Athena, AI of the _November Sky._

"We're here to initiate Cole Protocols. I'm sure you know what that means," Chris said somewhat coldly. It struck Jacob as the voice of someone about to do something he would regret. The AI frowned.

"I don't see why. We're fully capable of leaving this planet intact."

"I'm afraid I can't allow that. For all we know, you've already been compromised by local hostiles." Athena laughed loudly; raucously, at the suggestion.

"Them? Hack me? Oh, that's funny. No, no, I hacked _them._ They tried their best, but those AIs weren't nearly good enough. I'm the reason you encountered no resistance coming in here. _I _am in control."

Jun removed his helmet and regarded the AI coolly. "So _you_ sent those drones after us earlier?"

"I didn't take control of the system until you started your approach, so no. I was waiting for an opening, a distraction to weaken their defenses. Up until then, I had only taken control of the archives. Now, I have it all."

"Back up a moment. Who is the 'they' you keep referring to?" Chris stepped closer to the holotank. Athena frowned.

"I thought you knew. That's why you're here, is it not? 'They…' are the Precursor intelligences trusted with this installation. Left here to contain and study the capabilities of spacefaring lifeforms. To learn the behavior of their finest. Though, 'intelligence' might be pushing it a bit…"

All five soldiers made a motion of understanding, putting together two and two. The attacks, the resources Sentinel had acquired so easily, and even the hole in the mountain. It was a trap designed to study anything foolhardy enough to stumble into it- and skilled enough to fight back.

"Sir, if this AI has data on the Precursors we should bring her back to the _Vertigo._" James chimed in.

"If you want to put her in your suit, be my guest. Me, I'm not above guessing early rampancy. And how do we know this isn't another trick?"

Athena groaned, raising a hand to her head.

"Come now, Major. Now you're just being paranoid. I am in no way rampant, nor am I compromised. I've yet to breach three years active duty, let alone seven."

Noble Team stared at Chris expectantly. He thought for a moment, but as he opened his mouth to speak, he noticed the hole in the mountains- visible through the bridge's windows- shrinking.

"How long until that hole closes completely?" he asked the AI. She paused for a nanosecond to do the math.

"If you're asking if you'll get to that Pelican in time, the answer is not a chance in hell. However…" she paused, appearing as if in deep thought. "my calculations show that a MAC round may be sufficient to breach the wall. Perhaps enough to allow this entire ship out.

"Sentinel, get that Pelican into the vehicle bay!" Chris ordered sharply, his mind concluded. "Athena, warm up the engines and the MAC. We're leaving."

Captain d'Lacey gave Lt. Rodda an incredulous look.

"You say the mountain is _moving?_"

"Yes, sir. I thought it was an anomaly before, but it looks like it just closed up. I don't think that's just a mountain, sir."

Captain d'Lacey rubbed his temples. Obviously, that was where Noble Team was located. But what was going on down there?

"Sir, the mountainside just exploded!" the young officer shouted. d'Lacey was at her side in an instant, reading the sensor reports intently.

"_November Sky…_" he muttered in disbelief as a ship's IFF appeared at the hole in the mountainside. The ship was too small for _Vertigo_ to draw a decent image yet, but it could certainly trace the IFF signature.

"Confirmed ping from the _Sky_. Its AI, Athena, reports all SPARTANs are aboard," Tanis said, breaking the silence a few moments later.

"Get me a channel. I want to be speaking to Noble Leader _five minutes ago_," d'Lacey ordered sharply, receiving his channel only seconds later. The image of Chris in his armor appeared onscreen, leaning forward in the _Sky_'s command chair. The SPARTAN snapped a salute.

"Sir, all SPARTANs present and accounted for. The crew of the_ Sky_ is confirmed KIA by the ship's AI." The Captain wore a bitter smile, both overjoyed an disappointed at once.

"Acknowledged. Think your team can handle the _Sky_ for a while?"

"Easily. Did you have something in mind?"

"Tanis is transmitting the coordinated of our next destination," he replied, nodding to the AI. "We may need the _Sky_, so I don't want to leave her here. I'll debrief you once we link up with _With Valiance Victory_."

"Data packet received. Coordinates plotted," issued a voice from the other ship. Athena, he surmised.

"Tanis, take us into slipspace. Oh, and someone tell the leathernecks they can come off alert now."

The _Vertigo _curved off and disappeared into a hole it had ripped in the fabric of space itself. Shortly afterwards, the _November Sky_ did the same.


End file.
